More Articles

An Olentangy school board member has filed a theft report because a state audit said two
district athletic directors had misused money in tournament accounts.

Board member Adam White said he filed the complaint so authorities would launch a probe, not as
an accusation that Jay Wolfe and Thomas Gerhardt broke the law.

The report filed Thursday with the Delaware County sheriff’s office says only that a theft
occurred and names Olentangy schools as the victim. But in a statement White released yesterday, he
refers to the state audit that accuses the athletic directors of more than $11,000 in unapproved
purchases.

According to the state audit released this month, Gerhardt and Wolfe wrongly deposited district
money in bank accounts that were supposed to be used for tournaments funded by the Ohio High School
Athletic Association.

It says Gerhardt, the athletic director at Liberty High School, failed to document $7,300 in
purchases from that account between 2008 and 2011. In the same period at Olentangy High School,
Wolfe made about $4,000 in purchases that he couldn’t back up, the audit said. It also says the
money was paid back.

Gerhardt’s purchases reportedly included $480 for a gym membership and $1,700 for what the audit
describes as a “change fund.”

Other school-board members were surprised that White filed the report with the Delaware County
sheriff. “I was not aware that he was going to do that,” board President Dave King said yesterday. “
We never talked about that.”

White said he filed the report because no other board members were curious about the case when
the superintendent told them the district was investigating in February.

“I was the only one asking questions,” he said.

White said he consulted County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien and Sheriff Walter L. Davis and that
both encouraged him to file the complaint.

Olentangy officials are still investigating the case, said district spokeswoman Karen Truett.
The superintendent plans to present findings to the board in April, she said.